I have just changed from Fedora, which I've used since Core 1, to CentOS 6.3. However, I came across a very helpful post on this forum by tux99 about installing VLC on SL as well as CentOS, so I thought I'd post a quesiton here. I was in doubt whether this question belongs in hardware or use of 3rd party repositories. But since my question relates to Nvidia, and since I just saw the post by Toracat about an Nvidia update, I opted for this one.

One of my main reasons for switching from Fedora to CentOS was the hope of getting my dual monitors working again (they stopped working with some Fedora update). Alas, after the CentOS install, the second monitor still does not work. Here's what I'm running now:

I think the two monitors stopped working under Fedora with a kernel update. However, I've read it could also be a problem with the X-server. I don't have any idea how to investigate this or, if needed, fix it. But could it not be a driver problem? So now we have three possibilities.

I found the post on this board about the Nvidia driver and the ELRepo repository. This raises a host of questions for me.

From the Fedora forum, I got the impression that Nvidia drivers are not what they used to be, and nouveau is preferred. nouveau was installed by default when I installed CentOS 6.3 a few days ago:

xorg-x11-drv-nouveau-0.0.16-13.20110719gitde9d1ba.el6.i686

Can I get the two mnoitors working using it? Or does it have to be removed and the Nvidia driver installed? Can the Nvidia driver be installed in addition to nouveau? To get the ELRepo Kmod-nvidia driver, it would seem I need to add a new repository. This raises another set of questions for me. Do I need to install the yum plugin for "priorities"? I've never done that before and have never set any "priorities" when using several third-party repositories with Fedora: Adobe, RPMFusion, Google Chrome (and there might have been more--can't remember).

As you can see, I am not very well-versed in drivers and hardware. What is the simplest solution to get my two monitors working again? A set of instructions that even I can follow would be greatly welcomed.

The Nvidia drivers are still far superior than Noveau, I don't know how anyone (but radical FOSS purists) can claim the contrary. You can install the Nvidia packages from the Elrepo repo and the installation will take care automatically of disabling the Noveau driver.

Also don't worry about enabling Elrepo together with the linuxtech-repo as they play nicely with each other (I use the Elrepo repo myself together with my repo).

And yes, the Nvidia drivers allow dual monitor setups, I have been using them like that for years up to now.

ELRepo provides 'elrepo' and 'elrepo-extras' among others. Packages in the 'elrepo-extras' repo may overwrite distro files but it is shipped disabled. So unless you enable it, elrepo packages should not conflict with the distro , therefore no need to worry about priorities. Also, as tux99 said, he takes good care of his repo, too.

Thanks, toracat and tux99. Everything worked perfectly. With kmod-nvidia both monitors are back up and running, and as I mentioned in tux99's magnum opus thread on VLC, there is music in the room again!

I'm wondering if in the future I can continue to post on the SL forum with questions as a CentOS user. Maybe a moderator will see this post and let me know.

Although I always recommend posting questions to the forum that matches your OS we will not run you off for using CentOS. We have a pretty easy going group here that for the most part is happy to help others no matter what OS you are using. In fact many of us post on multiple forums.

So feel free to pull up a chair, have a drink, and answer/ask questions as you see fit, as long as it is within the SLF rules.

I actually have made a few posts to the CentOS forum since installing it last week, but I've gotten the impression that at least some there have little patience with questions coming from those like me who want to use CentOS as a desktop OS. I went to CentOS from Fedora because of its reputation for stability, thus allowing me (hopefully) maximum time for production work rather than sysadmin work. But just today I read a response to someone's very politely-put question about xscreensaver: the response was to the effect of why would you even be "fiddling" with that with an "ENTERPRISE" OS? (captial letters used by responder).

I'd rather not open myself up to that kind of treatment. So...I think I'll take you up on your most generous offer to welcome me aboard! Maybe I should have considered Scienctific Linux in the first place when I switched from Fedora. I actually am a retired physics teacher.

But just today I read a response to someone's very politely-put question about xscreensaver: the response was to the effect of why would you even be "fiddling" with that with an "ENTERPRISE" OS? (captial letters used by responder).

That rude reply is just from some random member not from one of the main forum contributors, so I wouldn't read too much into it. The Centos forum has some very knowledgeable mods (especially pschaff stands out for his knowledge, dedication and patience, he is also one of the Elrepo devs).

That said it seems to be true that Centos appears to be used more as server OS (probably because all the webhosters and VPS providers offer it) while SL seems to attract more desktop users.There is no real rational reason for this. SL and Centos are virtually identical.

Regardless of that, IMHO since Centos and SL are interchangeable you can post on whichever forum you prefer. I myself use both Centos and SL and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Although I do not want to flame the CentOS camp, it does strike me that the fuse of several members seems to get shorter each year. I remember the days when the CentOS "movement" was a happy bunch of minds-alike. Funny how things evolve over the years

It is important to keep in mind that SLF just like CentOS gets the full spectrum of people, some friendly and helpful and some not so much. We all have "bad apples" or just persons who normally are helpful but are having a bad day, so if you get a "bad apple" answer to a question, hang in there as someone will usually make a helpful post.

FYI: I post on CentOS forum when i can and some of the mods/administrators and users from CentOS post here as well.

Although I do not want to flame the CentOS camp, it does strike me that the fuse of several members seems to get shorter each year. I remember the days when the CentOS "movement" was a happy bunch of minds-alike. Funny how things evolve over the years

True, but if you have been keeping an eye on the Centos forum you probably have noticed that they do get quite a few rude and abusive newbies too. Also during the relatively recent period between after RHEL6 was released and before Cento6 was released the forum was swamped with unreasonable abuse from angry users (as if the mods were responsible for the delays or owed the users anything... ). All this naturally strains the nerves of the regulars and the mods.

We have been lucky here so far but I guess that's because we have a lot less members, it's much harder to keep a forum friendly when it grows in size.

Personally what irritates me on the Centos forum is the extreme sluggishness of their forum software!If I was a regular or a mod there, this would drive me mad.

I'm resurrecting this old thread because I have a new problem with nvidia.

The previous entries in this thread dealt with my localhost1 computer, which is still up and running fine. I just upgraded localhost2 with new hardware: motherboard, CPU, disk drive, and DVD drive. Today I installed CentOS 6.3, 64 bit version. In the earlier portion of this thread, tux99 said, "The Nvidia drivers are still far superior than Noveau." So as one of my last steps, I installed kmod-nvidia, as I did several months ago on localhost1. But it did not work. localhost2 now does not boot.

I have "quiet" removed from grub.conf, so I can see exactly where it freezes. The following line is repeated five or six times, and then the system hangs:

NVRM: no NVIDIA graphics adapters found!

I used the install DVD in rescue mode and went to /mnt/sysimage to try to uninstall kmod-nvidia, but I guess you can't install or uninstall on your main system when in rescue mode.

What is the problem with nvidia? Could it be due to the fact that the new localhost2 does not a graphics card, whereas localhost1 does? On localhost2, I'm simply using the motherboard VGA input (single monitor).

What can I do now? I'd hate to think of reinstalling CentOS on localhost2 from scratch--with all the additional installations (like flash-plugin) and configuring (like NFS), that's practically a whole day's work for me. Is there another solution at this point?

I'm resurrecting this old thread because I have a new problem with nvidia.

The previous entries in this thread dealt with my localhost1 computer, which is still up and running fine. I just upgraded localhost2 with new hardware: motherboard, CPU, disk drive, and DVD drive. Today I installed CentOS 6.3, 64 bit version. In the earlier portion of this thread, tux99 said, "The Nvidia drivers are still far superior than Noveau." So as one of my last steps, I installed kmod-nvidia, as I did several months ago on localhost1. But it did not work. localhost2 now does not boot.

I have "quiet" removed from grub.conf, so I can see exactly where it freezes. The following line is repeated five or six times, and then the system hangs:

NVRM: no NVIDIA graphics adapters found!

I used the install DVD in rescue mode and went to /mnt/sysimage to try to uninstall kmod-nvidia, but I guess you can't install or uninstall on your main system when in rescue mode.

What is the problem with nvidia? Could it be due to the fact that the new localhost2 does not a graphics card, whereas localhost1 does? On localhost2, I'm simply using the motherboard VGA input (single monitor).

What can I do now? I'd hate to think of reinstalling CentOS on localhost2 from scratch--with all the additional installations (like flash-plugin) and configuring (like NFS), that's practically a whole day's work for me. Is there another solution at this point?

Thanks so much.

Ken

EditAh, sorry just read your post again and realised you can't boot.Can you edit your files using as live CD?

I have not tried booting into level 3 yet (just got out of bed!), but I wanted to ask you about the motherboard.

Motherboard:

Intel Desktop Board DH61BE Classic Series. From the description on the Intel Web site, it has the "Intel H61 Express Chipset." Under "Graphics" it has, "DVI-D and VGA connectors for processors with Intel® HD Graphics" I didn't find the word "Nvidia" anywhere.

(1) Does Intel make motherboards with the Nvidia chip set for its built-in graphics? If yes...

(2) I'm beginning to get angry with the owner of the store where I bought the board. He never asked if I want to use Nvidia drivers, which I presume are the best.

I have not tried booting into level 3 yet (just got out of bed!), but I wanted to ask you about the motherboard.

Motherboard:

Intel Desktop Board DH61BE Classic Series. From the description on the Intel Web site, it has the "Intel H61 Express Chipset." Under "Graphics" it has, "DVI-D and VGA connectors for processors with Intel® HD Graphics" I didn't find the word "Nvidia" anywhere.

(1) Does Intel make motherboards with the Nvidia chip set for its built-in graphics? If yes...

(2) I'm beginning to get angry with the owner of the store where I bought the board. He never asked if I want to use Nvidia drivers, which I presume are the best.

(3) Is it worth buying a graphics card just to use Nvidia drivers?

That motherboard has definitely no Nvidia chip on it, Intel has never made boards with Nvidia chips.

Intel graphics drivers and chips are decent too , as long as you don't want to play 3D games with it.So with regards to (3), it depends what you want to use that PC for.

The statement that Nvidia drivers are better than Noveau apply only to the situation that you have a Nvidia graphics chip/card, as both the Noveau and the Nvidia drivers are exclusively for Nvidia graphics chips.

On a PC with Intel graphics you don't use Noveau or Nvidia, you simply use the Intel drivers that are included in Centos/SL.

I'm so releaved that Intel doesn't make boards with Nvidia chips on it. I just hate having to get angry with someone!

No, we don't play 3D games. However, we do go to Web sites like Fox News, Townhall, WeaselZippersUS, etc., that have tons of stuff going on (videos, slide shows, etc.). Would the download and display speed be improved with an Nvidia graphics card and drivers?

Ken

P.S.: By the way, if it's not too personal a question, I've been wondering about your id, tux99. Being of a romantic nature myself, I wondered if this name was a clever reference to you having gotten married in 1999???

However, we do go to Web sites like Fox News, Townhall, WeaselZippersUS, etc., that have tons of stuff going on (videos, slide shows, etc.). Would the download and display speed be improved with an Nvidia graphics card and drivers?

No, Nvidia graphics card and drivers would make no difference for that.

QUOTE (kenmorgan @ Jan 24 2013, 03:08 PM)

P.S.: By the way, if it's not too personal a question, I've been wondering about your id, tux99. Being of a romantic nature myself, I wondered if this name was a clever reference to you having gotten married in 1999???

No, in 1999 I was still single and partying!

The 99 doesn't have any specific meaning, if anything it's vaguely inspired by the title of the Bruce Springsteen song "Johnny 99": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAjhHbtZyQU(please don't misunderstand, I'm certainly not identifying myself with the character in the song, the title of the song is simply the inspiration for choosing 99 as opposed to some other number!)

Just two days ago I said that this ends another round of questions. It took only two days for yet another round to surface! My emotions are oscillating back and forth between despression and anger.

I am beginning to think that the answer to the question in the subject line that launched this thread is NO. You will note that the date of that first post was Aug. 8, 2012. I was then and still am using the following video card in my older computer, localhost1:

Video Card: GeForce 6200 PCI 256MB DDR2

Shortly after Aug. 8, I installed nvidia drivers and have been happily making yum updates ever since. Now suddenly after a recent update a day or two ago, which I am almost sure involved an nvidia update, the system no longer boots. Now I get the message, "NVIDIA GeForce 6200 GPU supported by NVIDIA 304.xx legacy drivers...310.32 NVIDIA driver will ignore this GPU. Continuing to probe...No NVIDIA graphics adapter found."

And booting halts. So I boot into level 3 and remove the "latest and greatest" and useless NVIDIA drivers. But now my dual monitors don't work.

(1) Why is this happening? I surely must have had other nvidia updates since Aug. 8 before this latest one. What kind of a company releases a new update that suddenly makes multitudes of graphics cards obsolete?

(2) Why don't the dual monitors work with nouveau?

(3) Do I need to install some "legacy" nvidia driver? Can I do this with yum from the same repos I'm using now?

(4) Why does this problem halt the booting process? Why doesn't the system just revert to nouveau and continue?

(1) Why is this happening? I surely must have had other nvidia updates since Aug. 8 before this latest one. What kind of a company releases a new update that suddenly makes multitudes of graphics cards obsolete?

This is not the first time that Nvidia's newer driver dropped support for some older GPUs. But each time they continued supporting them by providing "legacy" series.

QUOTE

(3) Do I need to install some "legacy" nvidia driver? Can I do this with yum from the same repos I'm using now?

Yes and yes. You'll need the 304xx driver for your hardware. ELRepo's web page about the Nvidia packages has useful info and links:

Here are a few followup questions based on my enumeration scheme in my previous post:

(5) Once I install the 304xx driver, won't I need to add an "exclude" statement to yum.conf? Otherwise, won't the next update I run just reinstall the newest nvidia driver that we know doesn't work with my graphics card?

Modified (2): I would really like to use Nouveau instead of nvidia if possible. Is there any way to get it to run dual monitors plugged into my GeForce 6200? Maybe some script somewhere that I could modify?

For my "continuing education": (4) If nvidia can't find an "NVIDIA graphics adapter," why doesn't grub just abandon nvidia and default to Nouveau to complete the boot process? One must admit that it is rather unimpressive for the boot process to hang when there is a way to continue.